Should You Buy the New Nesco Canner?

The original and new Nesco electric pressure canner side by side.

Some of you may have noticed that there is a new Nesco canner out. It has a much more sleek, classy look compared to the original Nesco and Carey canners. But should you rush out to buy it? That’s what I get into in this article.

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If you’d like to check out the new version, check it out here on Amazon.

Comparing the New Nesco Canner to the Original Nesco Canner

The first thing to do before rushing out to buy the new Nesco canner is to compare the new version with the original Nesco electric pressure canner, so you can see how they are the same, and how they are different.

The Control Panel

The primary and most obvious difference between the New Nesco canner and the original Nesco canner is the control panel.

The new and original Nesco canner control panels side by side. — Here’s a closeup of the two Nesco control panels, side by side. On the left is the new Nesco canner, and on the right is the original Nesco canner.

From my perspective, the primary point of this redesign was to bring some clarity to the different functions, specifically the purpose of each of the buttons.

As you can see in the image above, on the new Nesco canner, above the top row of buttons is the word, CANNING. This indicates those buttons are for canning. Above the bottom row of buttons is the word, COOKING. This indicates those buttons are for cooking, rather than canning.

I believe this change was made because with the original Nesco canner, some people selected “pressure cook” for pressure canning, even though it’s not safe for that purpose.

You can also see that the buttons on the top have additional words. Here are the differences:

Instead of WB/Steam, there is Waterbath/Steam.
Instead of Low, there is Low Pressure
Instead of High, there is High Pressure

Time Display

You may have noticed in the above photo that showed the two canners side by side, that it looks like the area for the time display doesn’t exist on the new Nesco electric pressure canner. However, when you plug in the canner, it shows up quite nicely.

Other Components of the New Nesco Canner

Now let’s take a look at the other components of the updated electric canner and how they compare with the original Nesco canner.

First, let’s look at the inner pot.

The inner pot of the new Nesco canner. — This is the inner pot of the new Nesco canner.

There are absolutely zero differences between the inner pot in the new Nesco electric pressure canner and the original Nesco canner.

Now let’s look at the racks that come with the canner.

The racks from my older Nesco canner are on the left and the new ones are on the right.

As you can see in the photo above, there are no changes to the racks that come with the new canner vs. the old canner. On the top are the canning racks and on the bottom are the steaming racks. Just to verify that there are no differences in the racks, I put the steam racks on top of each other and lined up the holes, and they are exactly the same.

The Nesco canner pressure valve for high altitudes

As is true with the original Nesco canner, the new one comes with two pressure regulators. It comes with the black regulator, which is for altitudes up to 1,000 feet, attached to the lid. It is 10 pounds of pressure. For altitudes over 1,000 feet, there is a green pressure regulator. It is for 15 pounds of pressure. Due to my altitude, I’ll be using the green valve.

Pro tip: If you need more information on how altitude impacts canning, check out this blog post:

There is a new and updated manual that comes with the new Nesco electric pressure canner. While I won’t claim to have compared every single word, I did compare every page, and for the most part, it looks to be the same.

How Altitude Impacts Canning | How to Adapt Canning Recipes Based on Your Altitude

Comparing the New Nesco Canner Manual to the Old Manual

Examples of the Differences

The notable difference is the photos in the new manual are of the new canner. There are also times when something that was in a text box in the old manual may be in bold type (instead of in a box) in the new manual.

Here is an example of a page from the Nesco canner that is nearly identical. On the left is the manual for the original Nesco canner. On the right is the manual for the new Nesco electric canner. You can see that instead of saying, “Overview of Components” the new manual says, “Component List.” Also, on the old manual is a photo of the original Nesco canner and on the right is the photo of the new canner. You can also see that the old manual has 14 components, and the new one has 15. But the components are exactly the same. The difference is that you can’t see the pressure regulator in the photo of the new canner, but you can on the old, and thus the numbering is different.

I also noticed that at times the first paragraph on a page was given the number one, and so in the new manual, it may look like there are 13 steps or points, when in the old manual there were only 12. But the information is exactly the same, or almost exactly the same.

First Paragraph Numbered Example

Comparing the manual of the new Nesco canner and the old Nesco canner. — Here’s an example of how the first paragraph in the older manual (at the top) isn’t numbered, and in the newer manual it is. If you look closely, you can see that #1 in the old manual is #2 in the new manual, but the information is the same.

Important Information Bolded Instead of Boxed Example

In the old manual, the IMPORTANT information was in a box. In the new manual, it’s bolded. I actually think it stood out better in the box than bolded, so I’m not sure this was a good move. As a side note, I noticed that the word, “temperature” was misspelled in both manuals. 😖

Check out the new Nesco electric pressure canner and cooker on Amazon.

Pros and Cons of the New Nesco Canner

It seems to me that the whole point of the new Nesco canner was to bring clarity to the process of using the canner. For instance, the display on the front tries to clarify which buttons are for canning and which are for cooking. I suspect that the changes in the manual were made with clarity in mind, though I personally didn’t find the changes helpful.

One negative aspect of the new control panel is that since they added more words, the font is smaller. This may be challenging for those who have poor vision.

Another negative thing is that the inner pot is still aluminum with a non-stick coating. With the work that went into the upgrade, I would have preferred a stainless steel inner pot at least as an option.

On the plus side, since with the exception of the changes in the control panel, and everything else is the same, you can swap out parts for the older canner with the new canner. For instance, if you lost the pressure regulator for the new canner, and you had one that went with the old canner, it would work just fine. That type of interchangeability is great news for those of us who have multiple Nesco canners.

My Recommendation Regarding Purchasing the New Nesco Canner

The big question that I started off with was whether or not you should rush out and buy the new Nesco canner. To that, my answer is no, simply because the functionality of the canner is exactly the same.

Having said that, if you’ve been thinking of buying your first Nesco canner or if you want to add to your collection, you can buy the new canner with confidence, since you can expect the same performance as before.

Finally, if you want to leave your Nesco canner out on the counter, and if aesthetics matter to you, then upgrading to the new, much more aesthetically pleasing version of the Nesco canner is worthwhile.

If you’re interested in buying the new Nesco canner, check it out on Amazon.

Note

Nesco Canner & Cooker Resource Hub
Looking for more guides on using the Nesco Canner & Cooker? Visit my Nesco resource hub for safety information, canning methods, and step-by-step tutorials.

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